U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,711 discloses a connector for positioning an array of multiple electrical cables for connection of the cables to an electrical circuit, wherein the connector comprises, a carrier to which the cables of the array are attached, respective circuit traces on the carrier attached to respective signal transmitting conductors of the cables, and an opening through the carrier at where the signal transmitting conductors project for electrical connection with an electrical circuit positioned at the opening. The patent further describes the opening at where ground conductors of the cables project for connection with a ground portion on the electrical circuit. For example, the ground portion on the electrical circuit can be a ground pad.
The ground portion of the electrical circuit avoids electrical shorting by being spaced apart from other portions of the electrical circuit to which the signal transmitting conductors are to be attached. For different electrical circuits, the corresponding ground portions are at different locations relative to where the signal transmitting conductors are to be attached to the circuits. Accordingly, it has been necessary to manufacture different carriers, for example, carriers with openings at different locations and with different dimensions to align with corresponding ground portions at different locations. A problem resides in having to design and manufacture different carriers to align with such different electrical circuits.
The signal transmitting conductors and the corresponding electrical cables are spaced apart on a pitch spacing that is selected to vary from a narrow pitch spacing, to a pitch spacing of intermediate width, and to a wide pitch spacing. The circuit traces on the carrier are located on a pitch spacing that corresponds to a desired pitch spacing of the signal transmitting conductors and the cables. In the past, It has been necessary to manufacture different carriers, for example, carriers with circuit traces at different pitch spacings to align with corresponding signal transmitting conductors located on different pitch spacings. A problem resides in having to design and manufacture different carriers to align circuit traces with respective signal conductors and cables on different pitch spacings.